The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-08-17
ADDRESS.

so recently erected py your puDnc-splrlted
citizens, and the frat thought suggested
to my mind was that / was now indeed in
the midst of what is popularly termed the
New South. As passed through the streets
of your handsome city, and contrasted its
present condition of prosperity with that
when last saw it in those dismal days of
reconstruction, when the blackened scars
of war were still upon it, there is double
pleasure in recognizing not only the march
of improvement amongst yourselves, but
the earnest of great influx of material
prosperity and great era of material de-
velopment soon to gladden. and fructify
the whole Southern land.
And so, to-day, as l stand in the midst of
this impressive scene; as | find myself sur
rounded by the fair forms and bright up
turned faces of these dear young people of
Maury Institute, find myself irresistibly
| borne out to that wider circle of which this
is the fitting epresentatiye,-th circle of
bright young womanhood in the South.
Coming upon the stage of active life just
as these fresh resources are being develop
ed, these new social conditions assumed,
and this tide of material prosperity wit
messed, the daughters of the South consti-
tute class full of intensest interest. 1
make no apology therefore. for the theme
"hAOh PAcecAt tO-ud 1-Oile lndt - OiOs Out
ever new; one well worn, but never thread
bare; one that assumes new interest as
new conditions environ it the theme of
woman's education. The question which 1
propose to your consideration is, How shall
we educate our girls in view of the altered
circumstances and changed relations of
what is now known as the New Southf
Before entering, however, upon any pos
tive treatment of the subject, let me bring
to your attention for the purpose of stig-
matIzIng 1T what | regard as a very perni-
clous, and, it is to be feared, a very preva
lent theory upon this subject. 1t proceeds
upon the principle that the present era at
the South is intensely utiltarian and prac-
tical, and that neither the requirements nor
the prophecies of this new order of things
call for the same thorough and scholarly
training that was so justly priced under
the old regime. We are told that in the old
dnte-6ettum days, when the daughter of the
Southern planter had no mental service to
render and no domestic cares to distract
when she had abundance both of leisure
and of means to indulge her literary tastes
and follow out her scientific pursuits, it
was all we'll enough to teach her Latin and
French, and Geology and Astronomy but
now, with loss of fortune, and arrangement
of domestic servitude, the life of the South
ern girl is to be filed up with the prosaic
and the commonplace; and all her literary
lumber YsIll be a. much out of place as a
i /, aanO N the kitchen, or microscope in the
coal cellar. Instead, therefore, ware told.
of occupying time that is needed to assist
the toiling mother at home, filling the
mind of the girl with high ideas that will
make her discontented with her humble
sphere and homely tasks, let her education
be brief in term, limited in range, practi-
cal in character, suited to make her a con-
tented and happy farmers wife; and let
the money that used to be lavished on
woman's education be employed in build
ing railroads, opening mines, repairing
levees, and reclaiming waste lands.
Responsive to this plausible but specious
demand for cheaper education, we have a
class of institutions amongst us, ready to
sacrifice everything to popularity end pa
tronage, lowering their standard of scholar
ship, narrowing their curriculum of studies,
tightening in every way the burdens upon
students, aiming at superfciality rather
than thoroughness; and, what is worst
| of all, in order to maintain the SEM
blance of scholarship where the reality is
consciously wanting, resorting to regular
system of imposition and fraud. No effort
is made to indoctrinate or inculcate prin-
ciples, but only to give a smattering of
knowledge ready to hand. Term reports
are sent home, giving averages of scholar
ship that are known to be misleading. Di-
plomas are awarded when the pupil is
known to have failed in essential portions
of the course. Graduates are permitted
to read essays and addresses as original
that are known to have been written for
them by other hands. Dialogues are spoken
parrot like, in languages an ordinary
sentence of which the speakers could
not translate into English without help
The whole system is one of mere scho-
lastic veneering, usually so clumsily done
that the seams and interstices clearly
reveal the coarse grain beneath, and even
when most cleverly done having no other
merit than that of clever cheat.
Now against all this Cheap-Jo ohm system
of education this system of shoddy and
sham-I am here to day to utter the indig-
nant protest of every honest and honor
able man, and to maintain that there never
was time in the history of the South
when the thorough education of our girls
was more imperatiyely demanded than
now.
1. Consider first of all, that education
to be education at all, must be thorough
Nothing less deserves the name In rela-
|
and development of true womanhood
physical, intellectual, aesthetic, moral and
religious. And yet, what organon for the
development of woman's powers is to be
found in a course of instruction which con
sists of mere parrot like commission to
memory of certain axioms and rules, and
the cramming of girls brain with certain
measure of incoherent facts and fancies to
be aired at public examination or on Com
mencement day? You have doubtless seer
in some of our public gardens fountain
surmounted by beautiful female figure in
marble, SO arranged through a system OF
concealed pipes, that the water from be-
meath passes through the entire form and
pours forth in an unceasing stream from
the lips or through a chalice in the hand
Yet when the water, with all its wealth oi
fructifying power, has been flowing through
for generation, the marble remains az
impassive and lifeless as when the water:
first began to flow. And so mere knowledge
sent by this mechanical process through
the mind, leaves all its higher powers a:
dormant, and all its nobler organs as
senseless as those of the marble statue al
the fountain. Nothing less than full an6
symmetrical development of the menta
powers, and their thorough and rigid dis
cipline to connected thought and patient
investigation deserves the name of educa
ton. Such development and discipline
come only through close application te
principles and thorough mastery of law
which lie at the basis of facts and condi
ton them. If, therefore, We propose te
educate our girls at all, let Us give them
true education. Let us not begrudge eithe
either the time or the money that is ts
evoke for them the elements of true
high, noble womanhood Il retrenchmen
ia --,ssoessary, let it, if possible, be mad
elsewhere. Let us beware of schools who's
chief merit is their cheapness; let Us main
| tain institutions that will do work honestl
! and thoroughly, whatever It may cost
III. Consider further, the immediate bear
| ing of this subject upon the after-life o
the graduate. We call this day in whic
these young people receive their diploma
!, commencement day. Why, but in orde
|. to teach them that they have only com
menced the work of education? They hav
only laid the foundation upon which il
after life the superstructure Is to be rearee
l If this foundation has been, as under th
system to which have alluded, utterl
hollow and Insecure, mere matter Q
I sham and show, what can we expect th
} superstructure to bes What will be th
7 future of the victim of this vretched cour
> lterfeit of an educations What kind G
/ books will she read What kind of studie
: will she pursues What kind Of knowiedg
e will she craves No more painful evidene
' of the necessity for more thorough cdr
4 cation of woman could be found than
: disclosed in the registers Of books take
! from the shelses of our public hbrarie
4 whose patrons are chiefly young women an
] girls. These registers show that for ever
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